Teaching Children Manners

How to teach children good manners the fun way.

5 year olds have small memories and may not even remember fundamentals like greetings and salutations. Another reason for having bad manners is that they fail to see how important manners are in society.

Children crave attention. They don't fully understand the meaning of embarrassment, so they laugh at bad manners. Children are not naturally rude but they create bad manners to get attention. Kids need to be taught good manners and the consequences of their actions. Parents can simply explain what is the appropriate response to give to different situations when the opportunity arises.

A 5 year old understands concepts in simple terms. If the parent explains that bad manners are offensive to other people, the child will appreciate the importance of good manners. A stubborn child may rebel if you simply say "No." Your rationale and logical answer will satisfy her.

Teaching children not to laugh or make fun of others requires self-control. Explain that people will avoid her and get angry with her if she continues to be rude to them.

Children learn by example. Parents can teach good manners to kids by showing good manners to them. Kids take the cue from their experiences and reflect whatever manners they have seen or learned.

Young children can't differentiate between what is socially acceptable behavior and what is not. Parents need to reprimand gently the bad manners. The correct way to teach is to remain calm and firm in transmitting your expectations of good manners. Parents can teach manners by telling stories or just repeating the polite forms of expressions for different situations.

Teaching manners by positive reinforcement or other rewards is better than by punishment. The carrot approach tends to solicit favorable responses. Explain to her how good or popular she is with family, relatives and friends by her politeness and courtesy. Show an example of someone else who's very polite so that she can realize the impact of good manners.

Children are growing and developing. As long as parents continue to be patient and accompany them with guidance, the child will be using good manners like a second skin.